Berau to Samarinda, East Coast Borneo
Anna's entry:
We finally made it back to Berau, Kalimantan from the Derawan Island. We arrived early in the morning, and our plan was to continue our journey the same day to the next town Samarinda. It would be a long 17-hour night bus ride... We wanted to time our arrival to Samarinda at a reasonable morning hour, and for that purpose wanted to leave Berau around 3 p.m. After being "assaulted" by a crowd of bus touts, we eventually gathered that, indeed, there was a 3 p.m. bus, and that we would have to be at a bus station by 2:30. We had about four hours, so the four of us (Dutch couple we met on Derawan, Rob and myself) decided to grab something to eat and check our emails. Our Dutch friends decided to take a local taxi, and we decided to walk around. By walking around we were heartily greeted by hundreds of hellos, high-fives, and shouts from everywhere "Hello, Mr!". We found a small Muslim family restaurant and got some good food with local honest price. We also picked up some food for the road - freshly BBQ'd chicken , rice, and several sauces to go with. Then, we headed out back to the bus station. It was exceptionally hot that day, and I had not been feeling so good. When we approached the bus stand, the touts again began jumping all over us trying to pursuade us to catch a 2 p.m. bus that looked in a poor condition and very uncomfortable. They kept yelling it was the last bus for the day, but we refused to board it. The more they insisted to board, the more we wanted to resist. In the past our approach served us well. This time, however, the touts were telling the truth - the 3 p.m. bus was canceled. Apparently, our Dutch friends had given in - and took off with an earlier one (which they regretted as they got a bus driver from hell who had no hesitation to risk the passenger lives on night mountain roads). We, on the other hand, decided to stay behind. Eventually, touts calmed down, and started giving us a more accurate info for the next day. Rob and I decided to spend a day in Berau and take off the next day. It turned out a great decision - the town was very welcoming (we had the entire school of kids welcoming us), Rob found an internet cafe to catch up on emails (and, imagine that, was not even charged for the use!), and got a lot more comfortable bus the next morning with a careful driver. In addition, the hotel we stayed at had a movie channel and Russian news channel, and most importantly I needed a day of rest - my stomach was raising hell with me, which required frequent (every 25 minutes) toilet runs - imagine dealing with this on a 17-hour night bus. Anyway, the next morning I was feeling a lot better, and we headed out back to the bus station. By then, touts knew us, and treated us very friendly - no hassle or hustle, talked to us about their country, and even offered us a smoke, which of course we refused, but a friendly gesture we appreciated. Speaking about a smoke - the whole country men's population seems to be addicted to it. The cigarettes are very cheap, the whole pack is about 1USD, and men light up every minute. Now, imagine a 17 hour bus ride turning into an ash tray.... The bus itself was very comfortable with nice recliner seats, and Rob and I had two seats each; however, the mountain roads very narrow and bumpy, and the entire bus was filled with a constant cigarette smoke. By the time we reached Samarinda - our next destination point - we were longing for a breath of fresh air.
It was difficult to get fresh air in Samarinda - constant traffic created constant pollution, cars, trucks, vans, taxis, and again lots of young kids on scooters and motorbikes. As we were told later on, if a kid is tall enough he/she can "buy" the motorcycle license, huh?? We thought Indonesia was supposed to be poor? It certainly does not fit into the definition when we see zipping by motorcycles operated by 8-year olds dressed in a nice Western clothing with mobile phones in their hands... Yes - we see occasional poverty, but it is definitely not the norm...
Samarinda also seemed pricey. We got a very basic room for around 10 USD - the personnel and included breakfast were nice, but for this kind price in Asia we are accustomed to get a lot higher standard. Let me put it this way, in Cambodia or Vietnam for a 10-USD room we would often be able to find a boutique hotel version with a satellite TV, small fridge, fresh towels with soaps and toothpaste. Not in Samarinda - you'd have to triple your budget to get something like that...
However, the stop in Samarinda was definitely worth it - we were able to re-connect with our new friend Erlin who we'd met on the Derawan Island. We were very happy to see Erlin - she introduced us to her friends, and local food specialties, took us to neighboring towns, and we made a trip together to Pampang - a village that was supposed to have local indigenous group with stretched out ear lobes and traditional tattoos. We saw some of them, but those were performers, so the whole stretched ear lobe tradition in Pampang seems to be a thing of the past - don't believe the guidebooks. Spending time with our new local friend Erlin was the highlight of our stop in Samarinda, and eventually it was time to depart for Balikpapan, further South on the Kalimantan coastline.
With our new friend Erlin in her home town Samarinda
posted by Rob and Anna @ 11:09 PM
2 Comments:
Hello Rob and Anna,
I am Jack Chi, from San Francisco, California. I have been traveling for 1.5 years now and this winter I plan to visit East Kalimentan with my partner Elisabet.
First, thanks for the refreshing and sobering perspective, knowing that $10 USD does not go far, unlike Cambodia and Vietnam, I thought it will be cheap. But I better rethink my budget.
I am flying into Balikpapan, I am on the fence about going to Derawan straight away or taking the bus to Samarinda first.
How did you get into Derawan?
Thanks
Jack
Hello Jack! In our previous post you could find a more detailed description, to summarize it - we went to Derawan from Tarakan. In your case, you will likely start the journey directly from Berau. To be exact, we had to make four connections: Tarakan-Tanjung Selor by boat-Tanjung Selor to Berau by kijang (car)-Berau to Tanjung Batu by another kijang-Tanjung Batu to Pulau Derawan by speed boat. The latter leg of the journey could be also done by a local fishing boat (free), unless you are a foreigner then it is around 20USD per boat established by the Derawan cartel. Hope it helps. :)
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